The Zika virus continues to lead the news. Read below several updates from the CDC and the AMA about the disease and the US response.

Congress fails to act on Zika funding before recess

The Washington Post (5/27, Kane, Debonis) reported that Congress left the Capitol last week for a nearly “two-week break without addressing how to combat Zika, even as public health officials issue dire warnings about the spread of the mosquito-driven virus with summer approaching.” While Republican leaders “insist a deal can be struck soon,” the Post explains that “an influential bloc of conservatives remain committed to reining in government spending, demanding cuts from other portions of the budget before allowing increased funds to battle Zika.”

The Hill (5/29, Ferris) reported that if Congress fails to act, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention “will be forced to eliminate emergency public health funding from as many as 62 health districts starting in July.” The cuts “would affect the nation’s largest cities and counties – Washington, D.C., Chicago, Los Angeles County and New York City – as well as already cash-strapped rural districts.”

Most US Zika cases are travel-related, CDC says

The Washington Times (5/29, Howell) reported that US citizens “are more likely to catch the Zika virus from a trip abroad than a mosquito bite in their backyard, and officials along the threatened Gulf Coast want to keep it that way, drawing up game plans to defend against disease-carrying insects before they spark an outbreak on the mainland.” CDC data show there are almost 600 travel-related cases in the US. At present, “the CDC says it cannot predict the extent to which Zika will spread in the continental U.S., though it notes that mosquitoes capable of carrying the virus can be found as far north as Cincinnati, New York City and San Francisco.”

For more information, visit the AMA’s Zika Virus Resource Center.

Microcephaly risk from Zika high in first trimester, CDC warns

ABC World News Tonight (5/25, story 14, 0:15, Muir) reported that a new study centered on the link between Zika virus and microcephaly found that the first trimester of pregnancy is “especially critical.” The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention called the risk during that period “substantial.”

STAT (5/25, Branswell) reports researchers from the CDC on Wednesday estimated that pregnant women who contract Zika have between a one and 13 percent chance having a child with microcephaly if the infection occurs within the first trimester of pregnancy. The article adds that the Zika virus “has been tied to a host of birth defects; researchers following the pregnancies of infected women in Rio de Janeiro found that 29 percent had babies with brain-related birth defects, including but not limited to microcephaly.” The findings of the latest study were published online Wednesday by the New England Journal of Medicine.

Zika virus may cause more extensive eye damage than previously thought, study suggests USA Today (5/25, Szabo) reports that a small study of three Brazilian baby boys with microcephaly “suggests that the range of serious eye problems in babies affected by the Zika virus is more extensive than previously known.” The study, published online in Ophthalmology, “found three types of eye problems not seen before: bleeding in the retina,” blood vessels “missing” in the retina, and “torpedo-shaped lesions in the macula.” It is unknown whether microcephaly or the Zika virus itself was the direct cause of the eye problems.

CDC: Thousands in US may have Zika virus

ABC News (5/24, Mohney) reports on its website Federal health officials believe that “thousands” of people may have been infected with Zika virus prior to coming back home to the US. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention principal deputy director Dr. Anne Schuchat “said approximately 500 people in the US were found to have likely been infected with Zika,” but since 80% of those with Zika are asymptomatic, “she estimates that thousands may have arrived in the US unaware they were infected with the Zika virus and potentially able to start an outbreak through the mosquito population.”

For more information, visit the AMA’s Zika Virus Resource Center.

CDC Health Alert Network Update

On May 13, 2016, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued interim guidance (http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/65/wr/mm6518e1.htm) that recommends Zika virus rRT-PCR testing of urine collected less than 14 days after symptom onset, along with testing of patient-matched serum samples, for the diagnosis of suspected Zika virus infection. Read more.

Background (from CDC)

Zika virus is a mosquito-borne flavivirus. Zika virus infection during pregnancy can cause microcephaly and other severe fetal brain defects. Zika virus infection is also associated with Guillain-Barré syndrome. Transmission of Zika can occur through mosquito bite, from a pregnant woman to her fetus, through sexual contact with an infected male, and possibly through blood transfusion. The most common symptoms of Zika virus disease are fever, rash, joint pain, or conjunctivitis. Other common symptoms include muscle pain and headache. Evidence from case reports and experience from related flavivirus infections indicate that the incubation period for Zika is likely a few to 14 days.